by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

BOSTON - The Detroit Tigers' victory Saturday at Fenway Park will be remembered for the near-miss bid for postseason history.

But for Anibal Sanchez, the four relievers who followed him in getting within two outs of a no-hitter and everyone else involved, the most important thing to remember was that this was a tense, grueling 1-0 game in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

And for the Red Sox, no need to dwell on this game because the next two are against pitchers arguably better than Sanchez -- 21-game winner Max Scherzer will start tonight's Game 2 (8:15 p.m. ET) for Detroit against Boston's Clay Buchholz and former Cy Young Award winner and MVP Justin Verlander gets Game 3 when the series moves to Detroit on Tuesday.

Daniel Nava's one-out single in the ninth inning against Detroit closer Joaquin Benoit broke up the no-hit bid, but the real suspense finally ended when shortstop Jose Iglesias caught Xander Bogaerts' pop-up to end the game with the potential tying run on second base.

"It would have been nice, but I will take the win," Benoit said. "The no-hitter is probably once in a lifetime. If we get it, fine. In that situation, I can't have that in my head because it's going to put too much pressure."

It was nearly four hours of pressure - yes, a 1-0 game that lasted 3:56 - marked by former Red Sox minor leaguer Sanchez bidding to match the no-hitter he pitched as a rookie in 2006 for the Florida Marlins.

But he lasted just six innings, thanks to the Red Sox's trademark ability to grind out at-bats.

Sanchez's handiwork required 116 pitches, the most stressful the last few that allowed him to leave the bases loaded in his final inning.

"I don't want to rush back just because we have a no-hitter," Sanchez said of manager Jim Leyland's decision to replace him. "I think they needed to bring some fresh arms to get the win."

Al Alburquerque, Jose Veras and Drew Smyly got the no-hitter through eight - Albuquerque retiring the side in order in the seventh, Veras and Smyly combining for a 1-2-3 eighth. Tigers pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts.

But Nava looped a clean single to center field against Benoit on a 1-2 pitch after fouling off three consecutive pitches, ending the no-hitter suspense. After Stephen Drew flied out to right, pinch-runner Quintin Berry stole second with Bogaerts batting.

"I'm not going to lie, when it hit the ground â?¦ well, I would've liked to get the no-hitter," said Tigers catcher Al Avila. "But it's not about refocusing. No need, it's a 1-0 game."

Even Verlander, who has two no-hitters of his own and took one into the seventh inning of his Game 5 victory Thursday that ended the Division Series at Oakland, said he was more focused on the tight game.

"Yeah, no-hitters are great, exciting for us, exciting for you â?¦ in the regular season," Verlander said . "There's much bigger things going on here."

Avila said he felt "like a goalie" all night, dealing with pitches that had the Red Sox checking swings and kept them otherwise off balance.

That was the goal for Sanchez, who allowed six runs in less than five innings in a Division Series loss to Oakland.

"He kept the ball down real well," said pitching coach Jeff Jones. "That was his big focus tonight. I think he knows where it's going. But it does move a lot."

Sanchez says, "I don't try to miss in the middle. That's why I got a couple of walks."

There was no doubt he wouldn't go back out for the seventh inning, but getting through the sixth - just after the Tigers had scored the only run on Jhonny Peralta's two-out RBI single - was an adventure.

"We weren't worried so much about his stuff," Leyland said. "All of a sudden he got out of sync with his control. He made a great pitch on Drew to get out of that inning."

The game looked like it would be a struggle for the 29-year-old Venezuelan from the beginning.

Boston had four baserunners in the first two innings, three on walks and one when Shane Victorino reached first on a first-inning strikeout as Sanchez became only the second pitcher ever to strike out four batters in one inning of a postseason game. He's also the first Detroit pitcher with a four-strikeout inning in any game - regular or postseason.

But Sanchez then retired 11 in a row from the last out of the second until the first out of the sixth.

Sanchez is a former Red Sox farmhand, a Class AA teammate of Jon Lester, Saturday's losing pitcher. It was after the 2005 season that Boston traded top prospects Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez to the Marlins for starting pitcher Josh Beckett, third baseman Mike Lowell and reliever Guillermo Mota.

"Everything is business," Sanchez said of the trade. "The Red Sox needed a couple people. I'm feeling good right now. I like my team and I'm really good over here."

But he remembers thinking of pitching in Fenway Park.

"I played in Lowell, Mass, really close to here," he said. "And Portland, Maine is really close, too. When I was in the minor leagues, I remember I came to a lot of games if Pedro Martinez was pitching. And I say one day I would like to have the uniform and be here."

The Red Sox have a 2007 World Series championship on their side of the ledger sizing up that trade; this year's team will stage the baseball equivalent of a filibuster in an effort to earn a flag of their own.

Saturday's game was 2Â½ hours old - with exactly one run scored - when Sanchez finished his work for the night. If nothing else, the Red Sox have the early edge in dictating style of game. This was vintage AL East at its most excruciatingly slow pace.

Remember, the famous seven-game 2004 ALCS between the Red Sox and the Yankees - the one that sent Boston on to end its 86-year World Series drought - averaged 4 hours, 10 minutes per game. Even the five games that didn't go into extra innings averaged 3:39.

But the Red Sox say don't blame them.

"It's not like we're going up there taking," Napoli says. "There are pitchers who are aggressive who are going to throw a lot of strikes. We're not going to sit there and be passive. We see the situation and grind out at-bats when we have to. We like to take the walk. We like to be aggressive. Whatever the game calls for."

But the Red Sox's artless approach - and the occasionally mind-numbing pace it produces - is not what this game will be remembered for.